The present invention relates to cutting tools. In particular, it relates to control systems for vegetation cutters especially hedge cutters or trimmers.
Hedgecutters comprise two elongate blades which reciprocate with respect to each other. Either one blade is fixed and the other caused to reciprocate or both blades caused to reciprocate in an equal and opposite manner. The blades are driven by means of a cam element driven by the output shaft of an electric motor or small engine. One such cutter is described in JP2005269972, which hedge cutter also includes a switch allowing the user to reverse the direction of motion of one of the blades.
Hedgecutters frequently suffer in use from a problem of blocked cutting blades when they encounter a twig or branch whose size or density exceeds the capacity of the blades. The operator typically removes the power to the blades to remove the pressure of the moving blade on the branch and then attempts to remove the branch by pulling the branch. This can give rise to substantial safety considerations as the user places their fingers near to the blades. Similar problems are presented with other cutting tools. The present invention seeks to overcome this problem and assist in freeing blocked cutter blades.